On October 29, NHK announced that actor Akari Takaishi will play the heroine Matsuno Toki in the NHK morning drama series "Bakebake" in the second half of 2025.
Takaishi was born on December 19, 2002 and is currently 21 years old. She is from Miyazaki Prefecture. She was a member of the dance and vocal group "α-X's (Across)" and became an actor in 2019. In 2021, she starred in the movie "Baby Warukyure" (directed by Sakamoto Yugo), which became a hot topic, and has since appeared in numerous dramas and movies. Last year, she won the Best New Actress Award at the 15th TAMA Movie Awards. Since September, she has also been serving as a "Miyazaki Ambassador" to widely promote the attractions of her hometown Miyazaki.
She was selected as the heroine from 2,892 applicants at the audition. Hashimoto Kanna, who plays the heroine in the currently airing "Omusubi," and Imada Mio, who will appear in "Anpan" in the first half of next year, are both from Fukuoka Prefecture, meaning that for the third consecutive season, an actor from Kyushu will play the heroine of an morning drama.
The heroine of "Bakeke," Matsuno Toki, is modeled on Koizumi Setsu (1868-1932), the wife of Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn), a Meiji-era literary figure known for his "Kaidan" stories. The story is about a couple who love ghost stories together with their foreign husband, and who shed light on and speak for the "nameless people" who had been forgotten in Meiji-era Japan as Westernization progressed. The script is written by Fujiki Mitsuhiko, who has also written NHK's "Asagaya Sisters' Relaxed Life Together" and WOWOW's "Tokyu Series."
